[Dixielandjazz] FW: BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Audio slideshow:African banjos

[Ulf Jagfors]

Thanks' for forwarding the link. It is nice to see the end result of the
trip as I helped Bela and Sascha to get in contact with the Ekonting lute
people from the Jola tribe in Gambia. There are more about African
predecessors to the banjo on following sites. Remember that the banjo is not
an African instrument but a New World slave invention by merging ideas from
both African and European instruments in the Caribbean region about three
hundred years ago. For instance there are no flat finger boards or pegs on
West African lute instruments but round necks and friction tuning rings for
the strings. 

The four string plectrum played jazz tenor banjo is an invention from around
1906 attributed, right or wrong, to the banjo maker J.B Shall. The oldest
tenor banjo in my collection is an open back Fairbanks Vega Tuba Phone from
1911. 

http://www.myspace.com/banjoulf

http://www.youtube.com/user/ulfjagfors

http://www.myspace.com/akonting

http://www.myspace.com/banjoroots

Ulf Jagfors
 


-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] För Jim Kashishian
Skickat: den 24 april 2009 17:13
Till: Ulf Jagfors
Kopia: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
Ämne: [Dixielandjazz] FW: BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Audio
slideshow:African banjos

 
Subject: BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Audio slideshow: African banjos

This is an interesting page on BBC about banjos and Africa.  
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8002762.stm

 
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